Found You
by sagdig71
Summary: First Meeting between Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy. Modern Day AU. During a hurried afternoon at the mall with his son, Leonard McCoy crosses paths with Jim Kirk. This could be the start of something big...


A/N: Special thanks to WeWillSpockYou for coming up with the First Meeting Challenge, and ReadItHoney for being my beta. Extra Special thanks to both of them for encouraging me to write. You guys rock!

Leonard McCoy glanced at his watch and then loosened his tie, as his eleven year old son wandered down the aisle in Game Stop.

"Come on Jackson, if we want to get to the shoe store before Dylan and his mom get here, we gotta go."

The dark-haired boy suddenly gasped with excitement, not even aware that his father had said anything.

"They have it Dad!" He snatched a CD off the shelf, clutching it to his chest, and hurried back to where his father was standing. "Look!"

**CALL OF DUTY 2014**

Len surveyed the game critically, ignoring his son's pleading brown eyes.

"No can do Partner." he handed the slim case back with a shake of his head.

"Why?" Jackon whined.

"Age range 12 and up. Even if you were 12 I'm not sure I'd be OK with it."

"But I play it at Ryan's all the time..."

"Good to know. I'll have to mention that to his dad next time you go for a sleep over.

Let's go."

The boy let out a defeated sigh, and trudged after his tall father, out into the main drag of the mall.

Len reached behind and pulled the boy up beside him, keeping a hand on his shoulder. He didn't much care for crowds. He was always worried about Jack getting separated from him in places like this.

As they made their way through the throng of shoppers, Len glanced at his watch again, realizing he probably wasn't going to make it back to the office in time for the client meeting at 3. As if on cue, his phone beeped.

"This is Len." He steered Jackson into the store and watched the boy go right for the Nike tennis shoes.

"Yeah, you might have to start without me. I'm running a couple of errands with Jack..." he sighed and waited for Nyota to stop talking.

"I've billed well over 200 hours in the last month Ny. I need to spend some time with my boy...Yeah? Well he can kiss my..." Len laughed and shook his head when his trusted legal assistant interrupted.

"Just remind him who won that case and that'll shut him up."

Still listening, Leonard watched his son walk back to the front of the store.

"Hey Dad?" Jackson was looking at something across the way, and glanced back worriedly at his father.

"What?"

Leonard leaned away from his IPhone and followed his son's gaze. Just across from them was a little girl, probably about 5 years old, standing by herself against the wall. She seemed close to tears. Leonard's dark brows knotted together in concern.

"Hey Ny, I gotta go. I'll uh...I'll call you back."

"I wonder if she's lost?" Jackson said, looking up at his father.

None of the adults walking by paid the child any mind. It seemed she was utterly alone.

"Sure looks that way kiddo."

By some unspoken agreement, the two McCoy men walked slowly toward the blonde-haired child. When she noticed them, the little girl gripped her hands nervously, obviously frightened.

"Hi there honey." Len spoke gently and smiled. The girl looked up at him, with the biggest, bluest eyes he'd ever seen. One fat tear threatened to spill from her lower lashes.

"My name's Leonard, and this is my son Jack." The boy nodded solemnly as his father crouched down in front of the girl. "What's your name?"

"Jessica." she answered in a quivering little voice.

"Hi Jessica. " Len smiled again, hoping to put her more at ease. "Are you lost?"

She nodded, and her lower lip quivered.

"Are you here with your mom?" His instinct as a father was to put an arm around the child, but he didn't want to frighten her any more than she was already.

Jessica shook her head no this time. "I was shopping with my Daddy." she explained.

"Around here?" Len glanced around to see if he could spot a frantic-looking parent.

"I think so..." Jessica looked around too, unsure of herself. "We were in the Disney Store."

"That's almost at the other end of the mall." Jackson commented.

With that, the little girl bowed her head and started to cry. Jackson gave his dad an apologetic look, and the older man put a hand on Jessica's shoulder. Seeing the little girl upset made his heart clench.

"Don't cry sweetheart. We'll find your daddy." He stood up and held out a hand to her but Jessica was obviously still afraid.

"I promise. Come on."

"What's you dad look like?" Jackson asked her as they started to walk in the direction of the store she'd come from.

"He has short hair and blue eyes." She looked up at the older boy hopefully.

"That narrows it down." Leonard commented with a sigh.

They continued on a little further when Leonard noticed a man a few years younger than himself, jogging down the opposite side of the mall. He seemed to be looking frantically for something...or someone.

"Daddy!"

At the sound of Jessica's voice, the man with the dark blond hair turned in their direction. Leonard could see the guy go almost limp with relief for a second, then he ran toward his daughter.

It was obvious where Jessica got her eyes from. Even from across the mall they were striking.

"Jessie!" He held out his arms, and as Len let go of her hand, the little girl ran to her father. He scooped her up and held her tightly.

"Thank God! Are you OK sweetie?" He let go just enough to lean back and look at her.

Jessica nodded, placing her little hand on his cheek.

"You scared Daddy honey. Remember I told you if you get lost, to stay where you are so I can find you."

"I'm sorry." Jessica's lower lip quivered a bit, and the blonde man hugged her tightly again.

"It's OK." he whispered. "Daddy's just so glad you're safe."

Leonard approached the pair, but hesitated, not wanting to intrude on their reunion. God knows he would have been beside himself if it was Jackson who was lost. He didn't even want to think about it.

After a few more seconds though, he spoke.

"See, " he said, and the little girl turned her head to smile at him, her blonde curls framing her small face. "I told you we'd find him."

Jessica's father looked at him then, his blue eyes almost unnerving. His gaze was almost like a physical force that Leonard could feel on his skin. He shivered slightly, and then tried to shake off the feeling.

"Thanks man." Jessie's father began. "I can't even..." the man cleared his throat to cover the emotion in his voice.

Leonard smiled at him and waived his hand dismissively, "Don't thank me. My son was the one that spotted her."

At that acknowledgment, Jackson stood up just a little bit straighter.

"Wow, thank you." The man bestowed a dazzling grin on the boy that had come to his daughter's rescue.

"Jackson David McCoy."

Jack held out his hand, and Len was suddenly struck by how quickly his son was growing up.

The older man chuckled at hearing Jack's full name, then turned serious as the two shook hands.

"James Tiberius Kirk - Jim for short. Pleased to meet you."

"You have a funny middle name Daddy" Jessie observed.

"My dad does too." Jack suddenly offered.

"Oh yeah?" Jim glanced at the taller man in front of him, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

Leonard felt his face getting warm. "Jack I don't think..."

"What is it?" Jessie asked.

"Horatio." Jackson smiled and Jessie giggled.

"That's pretty good." Jim conceded, once again holding Len's gaze with his own.

"First name's Leonard." He gave his precocious son the side-eye.

The two shook hands, and Len felt the warmth from Jim's hand travel up his arm. He also noticed Jim wasn't wearing a wedding ring, then chided himself for doing so.

When his phone chimed, Len startled slightly, and had to pull his hand from Jim's to get it out of his jacket pocket.

"Dylan and his mom just got here Jack."

"Cool."

Len glanced at Jim and Jessie, who were both smiling at him, and ran a hand through his hair. Was it weird that he didn't want to leave?

"We don't want to keep you" Jim said quietly. "We're late to meet Jessie's mom anyway...Thanks again so much..."

"Of course. I'm just glad...glad we could help."

There was nothing else to say, and yet, they still stood there, looking at each other.

"Come on Dad, let's go!" Jack pulled on his father's arm.

"Bye Mr...Mr Leonard." Jessica waived as Len waived back.

"Bye Jessica, you stay close to your dad from now on."

Len watched as the blue-eyed father and daughter smiled at him one more time, then walked in the opposite direction.

He stood on the sidewalk almost forlornly as his son scampered to the waiting car, jumped in the back and waived good-bye. When had his boy suddenly grown up? High-school was just around the corner...god that was a sobering thought.

Len chuckled to himself, trying to shake off this feeling of melancholy that had suddenly thrust itself upon him.

Why did he feel so...bereft all of a sudden? He couldn't shake that feeling he'd gotten when Jessie's father...Jim... had been looking at him. Was he really missing some guy he'd just met, and talked to for all of...maybe five minutes?

With a shake of his head, Len decided to head back to the office. He could get some work done, and maybe talk to Nyota about that blind date she'd wanted to send him on. He needed to get out more.

He glanced down at his phone and was headed in the direction of his car, when somebody else plowed right into him.

"Whoa...watch it..." Len staggered back, instinctively putting his hands out to steady the person in front of him, and found himself looking into a pair of impossibly blue eyes.

"Sorry...sorry..." Jim looked up and then smiled in surprise.

"Hey...sorry about that. I was looking at my phone..."

"Me too..." Len realized he was staring at the man, but he couldn't seem to help it.

"I'm a klutz anyway. You OK?" Jim put a hand on Len's arm, his smiling eyes looking a little concerned.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine." After another moment, Leonard noticed that Jim was alone.

"Where's Jessica?"

"She's with her mom. It's her weekend so..." Jim gestured vaguely toward the parking lot.

When Len cocked his head in confusion, Jim smiled. "We're divorced. I get Jess every other weekend and on Thursdays."

"Oh. Sorry...I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes." Len explained.

He left out the part about being so happily surprised to see this stranger again, that his brain wasn't functioning at normal capacity.

"What about you? Where's the boy?"

"He's spending the weekend at a friend's house. He's eleven, so he'd pretty much rather be anywhere than around me most of the time."

"I don't know about that," Jim answered. "He seems like a real good kid. I'm glad he was with you today, that's for sure."

"Thanks." Len ducked his head and then glanced up again, once again feeling the intensity of other man's gaze.

"So I guess it's gonna be a good weekend for you huh? Big plans for parents weekend off?"

"Not really." Len smiled sadly. "I'm uh...I'm a widower. Jack's mom passed about 4 years ago."

The blue eyes in front of him went wide with shock. "Oh...wow...I'm..."

"It's OK..." Len began.

"I'm sorry," Jim told him, once again putting a hand on Leonard's arm and pulling back nervously.

"God I'm an idiot.."

"No you're not," Len assured him. "There's no way you could know. It's fine."

"Sorry." Jim said again.

Leonard just smiled at the other man, who eventually smiled back, and seemed they were back where they'd started. There was nothing more to say, and yet, here they stood.

After several long seconds, there was no denying the awkwardness of it. Len cleared his throat, and looked at his phone again out of habit.

"I should let you go..." Jim began.

"I had a client meeting at 3, but..."

"I've actually got the afternoon off." Jim commented.

"Lucky you." Len told him. "We should go grab a beer..."

As soon as it was out of his mouth, Len regretted it. The way he'd been staring at Jim, the guy was gonna think he was a stalker.

"You want to?" Jim asked, bestowing another dazzling smile.

"I uh...what?" Len shook his head, not sure he'd heard correctly.

"It's five o'clock somewhere, right?" Jim looked at him hopefully, and ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, unless you need to get to that meeting?"

Len smiled, and dropped his phone in his suit pocket.

"Where are you parked Jim?"


End file.
